The EA Forums have a confirmation of widespread suspicions that Battlefield 3 will not be sold through Valve's Steam platform (thanks Planet Battlefield). As was theorized, there is a terms of service conflict at the root of this because DICE's military shooter will include the ability to purchase DLC from within the game:

Gamers can pre-order Battlefield 3 at Origin.com as well as over 100 digital retailers worldwide. EA offers games to all major download services. Unfortunately, Steam has adopted a set of restrictive terms of service which limit how developers interact with customers to deliver patches and other downloadable content. No other download service has adopted these practices.

We are intent on providing Battlefield 3 players with the best possible experience no matter where they purchase or play their game, and are happy to partner with any download service that does not restrict our ability to connect directly with our consumers. We hope to work out an agreement where Steam can carry Battlefield 3; meanwhile, gamers can pick from the more than 100 digital retailers listed at http://www.battlefield.com/digitaldownload, or go to http://www.origin.com.

Verno wrote on Aug 10, 2011, 08:59:I'm not sure Gemini Rue's chances will be any better getting on Origin. Let's totally get into a game by game list of what did and didn't get on Steam, that will be productive.

Wow, you're not even trying now I guess. You totally deflected this without addressing it at all. The point you made was basically "if Steam rejects it it's not a good game." Gemini Rue is a great game Steam did not accept. The greater point was that everyone treating Steam as the only place to go means Steam has authority to pick what is successful.

I am not saying I want Origin to replace Steam or something... where the fuck did you pull that from? Origin accepting indie games has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

It means you're a hypocrite like you accused everyone else of earlier. You're fine with anti-consumer policies and practices as long as Steam isn't responsible.

Hey Verno, this has nothing to do with anything. I don't like Origin's DRM and service contracts either. I have said repeatedly I don't like any of these services, I like the GOG/Gamersgate method. My entire focus is on Steam having too much market share. The only way to be a hypocrite there is to then buy everything on Steam anyway, which I do not do.

People spend the money where they see value, of course they will be resistant to a transparent attempt to force them to go elsewhere. No one has built a competitive platform to Steam yet and Origin is no closer to that goal unfortunately.

That really depends on your priorities. GOG has barely any of Steam's features yet it is a better service for me.

In the end you're right though, consumers drive these decisions and choose their service. That doesn't make it wrong for EA to decide where they sell their own games though, and for users to then choose whether to buy it and where. And I personally am happy to see people who usually only buy on Steam will have to branch out.

That said after today's Willits quote I could see you looking at it as forcing people to do something they don't want to do. Market share increases through exclusives do piss me off generally. I think the PC's open platform status is more important than offering Steam as an option for everything though. That's a tough battle but I have to support what I see as the core of our platform. Steam taking more and more power in the PC market threatens our platform from my perspective.